A citizen action group within a Calgary church is helping fellow members engage political issues and hopes their template will help other congregations do the same.
“The NDP government was in Alberta, and they were changing the school curriculum to this SOGI—[Sexual] Orientation Gender Identity. One day I was reading the Bible, and the Scripture said, ‘If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’” Buroker recalled in an interview.
“And it hit me in that moment that the agenda of that particular government, or more so the people behind it, were after our children.”
“That was what motivated me to say, how can I use the influence that I have with my church to get people to engage and vote for good politicians and begin to become active as school board trustees or begin to be active as city councillors,” Buroker said.
The pastor invited those in his congregation interested in social issues to meet the next Sunday evening. About 25 in the congregation of 400 came to attend, including then-University of Calgary public policy student Daymond Khan. He helped form the steering committee which continues to this day to execute its priorities of “research, action, and communication.”
“We send an email update during the first week of the month to frame it in terms of here’s three things you need to know. So, just enough information to understand what’s going on, and then using links to tell people how they can get active,” Khan explained.
“Every Sunday, we have volunteers there [at a booth in the foyer] that can answer questions and share information if people come up. And sometimes we'll be specifically trying to share information and doing handouts. And then finally, we have a monthly speaker.”
The list of past speakers includes federal and provincial lawmakers, as well as activists and representatives from organizations focused on constitutional freedoms.
Sharpe occasionally includes a video of Buroker telling the story of how he set up the CAG when Sharpe does his monthly zoom call on behalf of CFAC. Khan said the church has a three page document for church leaders who inquire about how to start their own groups.
“Christians have kind of disengaged for a long time. But in many ways, we’re reaping the consequences of that. So on a larger scale of things, we want to be a part of that effort to get Christians to act if they feel led to run, to work in politics, if they don’t feel led then just to at least get informed, just to be engaged,” Khan said.
“People have said to me, not many,... ‘Well, it’s not the church’s job to get involved in politics.’ And I said to one guy, ‘You know what? If the government hadn’t gotten involved in religion, I wouldn’t be involved in politics,’” Buroker said.
“We have a choice right now to engage before it’s too late. The salt can’t make impact until it makes contact. So we’re called to be the salt of the earth.”
